In every journey, challenging detours threaten to pull you away from your ultimate destination. The same is true in business: The routine of the finance team gets halted, and their attention has to turn toward a new goal, issue or challenge. The changes in front of them are often unexpected and complex, and in many cases completely new to the team. If resources are tight or there’s a skills gap, the team will need outside expertise, guidance and leadership.
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Consider these examples: The company is undertaking its first-ever audit, adopting changes to its revenue recognition practices, or pursuing an exit strategy (or having one imposed). Such scenarios are out of the ordinary and would put any finance team’s resource levels and skill levels to the test.
To be efficient and successful in their latest strategic project, the company needs practical, proactive and knowledgeable finance and accounting experts who have prevailed through similar experiences and have an armful of best practices at their disposal. The finance pros at RoseRyan can step in and ramp up with little warning, as they embrace the toughest challenges and adapt to a wide range of companies, from startups to Fortune 500 companies, along every stage of the business lifecycle.
How does RoseRyan approach strategic projects?
Since we have been involved in a range of experiences since 1993, we know how to get the job done—and will adapt to the job at hand. Strategic projects—tricky transactions and non-routine events—excite us. We bring our experience from being in similar situations and tailor our approach to your company and this moment in time. Depending on the project, a team approach may be necessary, not just for efficiency’s sake but to bring in the right level of expertise at the right time as the project progresses. As a consulting firm, we have this ability to be flexible and agile, to meet your company’s exact needs.
Our strategic project management and consulting solutions meet the pressing demands of exciting changes, such as IPOs, acquisitions, divestitures and SPAC mergers, in addition to challenges that take significant time if the finance team were to try to tackle it alone. As a trusted advisor, RoseRyan is a reliable go-to resource for companies as they take on changes to revenue recognition and lease accounting rules, or require streamlined processes for purchase accounting or stock-based compensation. We can take over a particular strategic project and run with it or act as a supportive force. It depends on the situation and your exact needs.
Audit Readiness
Many of the strategic projects on this list can put a finance team under steep pressure. Audits are no exception. An audit—and all the questions and requests that tend to come with it—can greatly distract the finance team from their day jobs. This is an example of when preparedness makes a difference. Every company needs to get itself ready before the external auditors reach out every year, but the first audit can be especially stress inducing.
Keep the stress to a minimum, and maximize the calm. To ensure efficiency from the very beginning—through the moment when the auditors submit their opinion—consultants who frequently act as liaison between client companies and auditors can step in to take care of all the steps involved.
In anticipation of an audit, your outsourced team could preemptively streamline your accounting processes and systems. Getting your company “audit ready” can result in tangible cost savings, in terms of audit fees and time. Unfortunately, problems that haven’t been addressed can lead to audits that seriously bog down the team and take up as many months of time.
Audit readiness experts can help you get ahead of such potential problems while also being there to meet the auditors’ every request. They can take charge of PBCs and technical accounting memos to address issues surrounding revenue recognition and stock-based compensation head on. Whatever comes up, the consultants will be there to address it.
New Accounting Pronouncements
For companies that have yet to implement ASC 606, the revenue recognition standard, or ASC 842, the lease accounting standard, they have some work ahead of them.
For ASC 606, the implementation process can lead to some adjustments in how contracts are structured in addition to pricing and go-to-market strategies. To avoid missing any opportunities that can be uncovered during this endeavor and to ensure that the company properly follows the standard (including its extensive footnote disclosure requirements), accounting experts who have helped other companies with their ASC 606 implementations are a major advantage to getting it done properly and efficiently.
With ASC 842, some companies have found themselves to appear more leveraged than they were under historical GAAP, as right-of-use assets and associated obligations move on to the balance sheet, and out of the footnotes.
Lease accounting, revenue recognition and technical accounting experts take a holistic view in these implementation efforts, by helping finance teams understand relevant systems and processes that need to change, other functional areas in the company that may need educating, and tips and best practices for keeping key stakeholders informed throughout the process and after. They do all of this knowing your audit is right around the corner.
Transaction Advisory Services
Whether the company is about to embark on an initial public offering, a SPAC merger, or an M&A deal (either as a buyer or seller), there are multiple phases and considerations to tackle. The work ahead for a growth opportunity or divestiture is not just about the transaction itself. The company must prepare for the event, get through it and then become accustomed to operating as the “new” company on the other side.
For instance, when going public, companies put a lot of resources and effort into thinking about their valuation, impressing investors, and preparing their S-1, but they also need to think about “Day 2,” the time after the IPO when the company will have to act like a publicly traded company. From being able to meet the nonstop, deadline-oriented flow of SEC filings to gearing up for the first year of Sarbanes-Oxley compliance, the company will face added scrutiny and expectations.
Companies considering the non-traditional IPO route, such as by being acquired by a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC), can turn to RoseRyan to become “public company ready” ahead of time. At a minimum, a company would need to have audited GAAP-based financial statements.
RoseRyan consultants have helped companies in similar situations—under a tight time frame, a SPAC deal often requires a team effort to address neglected technical accounting issues and account reconciliations, firm up internal controls over financial reporting, and assess other critical areas such as the IT environment.
Technical Accounting
Tricky transactions and evolving accounting matters often require outside accounting expertise to make sure they are done right. Specialized expertise is often required to make sense of new accounting pronouncements, thorny equity compensation issues and SEC reporting requirements. The RoseRyan Technical Accounting Group is available to weigh in on an accounting decision, supplement a team’s skill set, or take over an accounting standard implementation effort.
Many companies don’t have the in-house skills to take on a big accounting change on their own. Or they need to check in with experts who are in the field and in the know about the latest accounting interpretations and best practices.
When you have access to such expertise, the company’s financial statement restatement risk can be minimized. Technical accounting experts are proactive by nature, and know what issues may apply as accounting standards and practices are adopted, and can weigh the pros and cons of choosing a particular accounting treatment over another. Our technical accounting pros can conduct scenario planning to help you make the right decisions surrounding contracts, commercial strategies and processes—and avoid regret later.
The benefits of being able to rely on steep technical accounting expertise? Leadership will have trust and confidence in the decisions your team is making, as you will have information tailored to the way your business is run. Then, when a new accounting rule is about to come your way, it won’t feel like an insurmountable challenge when you know to call RoseRyan.
Financial Statement Restatements
Keep the RoseRyan Financial Statement Restatements solution in mind under the “just in case” category. Hopefully, your company will not need a financial statement restatement, but if it does happen, you will want to know where to turn for efficient and tidy results. There’s not just the restatement itself but all the work behind it that can be time-consuming and resource draining for the team. For a clean slate, the company needs to be timely in fixing past mistakes and restating its affected financial statements.
To help you, the team from RoseRyan will conduct a thorough look back to fully understand what led to the error and how it can be rectified. They will determine whether the error is in fact material to previously filed financial statements and file an 8-K if so. And they can help determine the communication plan going forward, so that investors once again gain confidence that they can rely on your financial information.
Being transparent and honest is a must throughout this process. Then, it’ll be time to very carefully amend any affected SEC filings and be there as the external auditors review the error and come up with their own root cause analysis. The RoseRyan team can be your advocate here, to help you get through this process and respond to any auditor inquiries. Internal controls over financial reporting will also need to be revisited—as any material weaknesses must be addressed.
To rebuild the reputation of the team and the company at large, expertise in this area sets the tone for a calm, streamlined, and efficiently run restatement process. Finance and accounting pros will remediate the error swiftly and properly.
Systems Review
Are your financial systems a good match for the state of your company today? Your outdated and/or disparate systems could be preventing your finance team from accessing and analyzing timely information. Manual processes or software that is no longer appropriate for the size and complexity of the business can be detrimental to the team’s ability to respond to questions from management and the board, act swiftly to support the business, and minimize the company’s cybersecurity risks. Over time, as companies are acquired and expansions into other regions occur, a mishmash of systems can prevent the company from being fully integrated, as inconsistencies between organizations and geographic locations grow.
An assessment of the current systems, including a clear understanding of what the various areas of the company need and how they operate, is the starting point toward consistently being able to access clearer information, safeguarding it, and producing advanced reports that aid strategic decision-making.
In addition, financial systems experts from RoseRyan can let you know about solutions on the market today that would be a good fit for your company. They’ll offer objective guidance, with a short list of options, along with recommendations. Then, we can work closely with the team as the new systems are implemented. We can lead the project management efforts and ensure the integration is successful, with the company’s data properly carried over.
One of the most immediate results: a more productive finance team, as workarounds are minimized and time previously spent on reconciling disparate systems will open up. At a higher level, the company is set up for more effective growth and scaling efforts when it has real-time, reliable information on hand.
When a tricky transaction is imminent or an out-of-the-ordinary event is about to occur, your company needs quick access to experts who know the drill. It’s rare that strategic project planning can occur, but whenever possible, preparedness is helpful. Whether you need a quick turnaround or have some time to ramp up for changes, our experts can step in to lead the strategic project and get the team through it.
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RoseRyan consultants have incredible depth of experience from working with companies of all sizes, at all stages of growth, in a wide range of situations. So, whether it’s time for the company’s first audit or you need to surmount a technical accounting challenge, or an IPO or M&A deal is on the horizon, you will know where to turn.
Companies have stuck with us over our nearly 30 years as a reliable finance and accounting consulting firm because of our deep expertise and adaptability to the varied companies we work with closely. When you have a strategic project your team needs to tackle, you need a firm that will tailor its approach to the way your company works and operates, and whose consultants can jump right in to get the job done. Ramp-up time when working with RoseRyan pros is incredibly minimal—we get to know your company, we quickly become a part of the team, and then we’ll lead it through this latest challenge.
In addition to our finance and accounting knowledge and expertise, our specialties are vast and include: acting quickly, providing access to experts in their craft and role, jumping in and leading a project or guiding the way—whatever is needed and most appropriate. Every strategic project is different, depending on the company size, stage of growth, industry and complexity. We’ll help you prepare, prevail and transition to the next step in your journey.
“RoseRyan provided valuable SEC reporting insights throughout our IPO process. As a result, we were able to keep to our filing schedule and received minimal SEC comments.”
Drop us a note in the form and one of our experts will set up a time to discuss the ways RoseRyan can help guide you to greatness.
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On demand leadership and consulting services out of Silicon Valley specializing in the Finance & Accounting disciplines.
